http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield This page intentionally left blank http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600–1960 The mobilization of local ideas about racial difference has been impor- tant in generating – and intensifying – civil wars that have occurred since the end of colonial rule in all of the countries that straddle the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. From Sudan to Mauritania, the racial categories deployed in contemporary conflicts often hearken back to an older history in which blackness could be equated with slavery and nonblackness with predatory and uncivilized banditry. This book traces the development of arguments about race over a period of more than 350 years in one important place along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert: the Niger Bend in northern Mali. Using Arabic documents held in Timbuktu, as well as local colonial sources in French and oral interviews, Bruce S. Hall reconstructs an African intellectual history of race that long predated colonial conquest, and which has continued to orient inter-African relations ever since. Bruce S. Hall is an assistant professor at Duke University. His work appears in the Journal of North African Studies and the International Journal of African Historical Studies. Professor Hall previously held positions as an assistant professor at the University at Buffalo (SUNY) and as an Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield AFrICaN STUDIEs The African Studies Series, founded in 1968, is a prestigious series of monographs, general surveys, and textbooks on Africa covering history, political science, anthropology, economics, and ecological and environ- mental issues. The series seeks to publish work by senior scholars as well as the best new research. EDITORIAL BOARD David Anderson, University of Oxford Catherine Boone, University of Texas at Austin Carolyn Brown, Rutgers University Christopher Clapham, University of Cambridge Michael Gomez, New York University Nancy J. Jacobs, Brown University Richard Roberts, Stanford University David Robinson, Michigan State University Leonardo A. Villalón, University of Florida A list of books in this series will be found at the end of this volume. http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield A History of Race in Muslim West Africa, 1600–1960 BrUCE S. HaLL Duke University http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107002876 © Bruce S. Hall 2011 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2011 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Hall, Bruce S. A history of race in Muslim West Africa, 1600–1960 / Bruce S. Hall. p. cm. – (African studies ; 115) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-107-00287-6 1. Blacks – Africa, West – History. 2. Black race – History. 3. Slavery – Africa, West – History. 4. Islam and culture – Africa, West – History. I. Title. dt15.h23 2011 305.800967′0903 – dc22 2010046888 isbn 978-1-107-00287-6 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield Contents List of maps and figures page viii Acknowledgments ix Note on orthography xi Abbreviations used in references xiii Glossary xv Introduction 1 Part One Race along the desert edge, c. 1600–1900 27 1. Making Race in the Sahel, c. 1600–1900 34 2. Reading the Blackness of the Sudan, c. 1600–1900 69 Part Two race and the colonial encounter, c. 1830–1936 105 3. Meeting the Tuareg 108 4. Colonial Conquest and Statecraft in the Niger Bend, c. 1893–1936 130 Part Three The morality of descent, c. 1893–1940 173 5. Defending Hierarchy: Tuareg Arguments about Authority and Descent, c. 1893–1940 176 6. Defending Slavery: The Moral Order of Inequality, c. 1893–1940 209 7. Defending the River: Songhay Arguments about Land, c. 1893–1940 241 Part Four Race and decolonization, c. 1940–1960 273 8. The Racial Politics of Decolonization, c. 1940–1960 276 Conclusion 316 Index 327 vii http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield Maps and Figures maps 1 North and West Africa page 43 2 The Niger Bend 142 3 Major Tuareg & Arab Groups of the Niger Bend 147 4 The Niger Valley West of Timbuktu 151 5 The Niger Valley East of Timbuktu 156 figures 1 “Arab” man, Timbuktu, 1940 180 2 “Gaabibi” woman, Timbuktu, 1940 182 3 “Tuareg in Timbuktu,” 1940 184 4 Muhammad ʿAli ag Attaher 278 5 Muhammad ʿAli ag Attaher with two bellah-iklan servants, France, 1934–1935 279 6 Muhammad ʿAli ag Attaher with two bellah-iklan servants, ship captain, headed to France, 1934 281 7 Awad el Djoud, Bamako, 1955 292 viii http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield Acknowledgments There are many people who helped me over the course of this project. Certainly the largest contribution was the many conversations I had in Mali with people whom I can only recognize here in a very general way. These discussions often helped shape my thinking about the history of northern Mali and pointed me in directions that I would not have fol- lowed otherwise. That being said, I cannot pretend that those people would necessarily recognize their ideas and suggestions in what follows. This book is based on three main types of primary source material. First, I conducted interviews with people in northern Mali, mostly in the Songhay language. Second, I used Arabic documents held at the Institut des Hautes Etudes et de Recherches Islamique – Ahmed Baba (IHERIAB) in Timbuktu. Third, I carried out research on colonial documents held at the Archives Nationales du Mali in Bamako, the archives of the Ministry of the Interior in Bamako, and in the local administrative offices in Timbuktu and Goundam. My work with Songhay language materials was assisted by Aldiouma Amadou Cissé dit Diadié, who also undertook the difficult task of teaching me the Songhay language. At IHERIAB, I thank Dr. Mohamed Gallah Dicko, Sidi Mohamed ould Youbba, Bouya Haidara, Noury Mohamed Alamine Al-Ansary, Hammay Bania, Ali Koina, San Shirfi Alpha, and Alfadoulou Abdoulahi. I owe a special appre- ciation to Djibril Doucouré who permitted me to work freely with the collection. At the Archives Nationales du Mali, I thank Dr. Aly Ongoïba, Alyadjidi Almouctar Baby, Lamine Camara, Abdallahi Traoré, Timothé Saye, Adama Diallo, and Siaka Koné for all of their assistance. The Haut Commissaire of the Region of Timbuktu in 2002, Colonel Mahamadou Maïga, opened the doors of local government offices in Timbuktu and ix http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield x Acknowledgments Goundam for me. I also thank Amadou Dolo, Mahamane Sidiya, Baye Konaté, and Mahamadou M. Touré. An incomplete list of people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude is as ­follows: Badou Ababa, Mohamed ag Ahassane dit Halice, Alassane Alkalifa, Nicole Anderson, Abbas Benmamoun, Jeremy Berndt, Sara Berry, Dirk Bonker, Dinie Bouwman, Brandon County, Yacine Daddi Addoun, Roger Des Forges, Stephanie Diakité, Laurent Dubois, David Eltis, Damien Emonet, Peter English, Janet Ewald, Jennifer Gayner, Garett Gietzen, Alessandra Giuffrida, Jonathon Glassman, Jane Guyer, Abdalkader Haidara, Ismaël Diadié Haidara, Michael Hainsworth, John Hanson, Chouki el Hamel, Jeffrey Heath, Engseng Ho, Valerie Hoffman, Jochen Höttcke, John Hunwick, Jean-Marie Huon, Azarak ag Inaborchad, Peter Kagwanja, Hassan Kamal, Martin Klein, Anna Krylova, Pier Larson, Baz Lecocq, Christian Lenz, Paul Lovejoy, Ghislaine Lydon, Patrick McDevitt, Abba Bomoye Maiga and family, Mahamane Mahamoudou Dadab dit Hamou, Gregory Mann, Shahid Mathee, Leben Nelson Moro, Muhamed Nouhi, Cynthia Radding, Seraphima Rombe-Shulman, Jonathon Sears, Erik Seeman, Robert Shenton, Michael Sherfy, Ali ould Sidi, Aisha Sobh, Jérôme Soci, Ramya Sreenivasan, Philip Stern, Phillips Stevens, Maria Todorova, Seydou Togola, Boubakar Alkaya Touré dit Garba, Simone van Vugt, Liana Vardi, Claude Welch, and Jason Young. This book began as a dissertation and as such I owe a special note of thanks to the mem- bers of my dissertation committee (Jean Allman, Kenneth Cuno, Donald Crummey, and Charles Stewart). I am especially grateful to my disser- tation advisor, Charles Stewart, whose advice has been indispensible to me as a graduate student and since. I thank Kathryn Mathers for doing the index. My research in Mali was supported by the Institut des Sciences Humaines in Bamako. I thank the CNRST for research authorization in Mali. The research undertaken for this book was supported by ­fellowships from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) and by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). I also thank the University of Illinois for awarding me the Scott Dissertation Completion Fellowship. I owe a debt of gratitude to former and present colleagues at Johns Hopkins University, University at Buffalo (SUNY), and Duke University. To my partner Sima, my sister Sarah, and to my parents, Susan and Harry Hall, I am especially thankful for all the support that they have offered me over the different stages of this long process. http://avaxhome.ws/blogs/ChrisRedfield Note on Orthography The spelling of all place names follows official conventions in Mali and elsewhere, with the following exceptions: I use Timbuktu instead of Tombouctou, as it is spelled in Mali, Azawad instead of Azaouad, Arawan instead of Araouane, Masina instead of Macina.